Rose Amongst Thorns
by Kama0626
Summary: HBP Spoiler! Through various encounters with Malfoy, Hermione attempts to persuade him she can save him. Through their interactions, two enemies discover they are more alike than they thought, & that their mutual hatred is perhaps not so strong...
1. Early hours of the morning

_Disclaimer: I own only the plot._

In the days that passed after Dumbledore's funeral, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had appeared, emotionally, to have aged years. They had already spent almost two weeks at Harry's aunt and uncle's house, much to his relatives' disappointment and fury, and were quickly becoming impatient to leave.

"Bringing more of _your kind_ into MY HOME! I shan't tolerate it! Do I look like a bloody lunatic to you?" Uncle Vernon had yelled, moustache quivering and coffee slopping all over his shirt. The three of them simply stared. It had then only taken a small white lie from Ron to get him to shut up whilst they lugged their cases upstairs.

"Listen, my father works for the Ministry of Magic and if I were to perform a little, er, _spell_ on you, my name could easily be cleared."

Uncle Vernon had turned pink and then purple, and Aunt Petunia had grabbed his fat arm delicately.

"Besides," Hermione had added as they picked up their cases. "We're no longer Hogwarts students. We don't have to worry about being expelled. We can - and will - perform all the magic we find, um, _necessary_."

Harry had smirked in spite of himself as Uncle Vernon spluttered and blubbered, large fingers clenching his dinner fork and brandishing it like a sword.

Almost two weeks had since passed, and, amidst plans for the near future and discussions over how to best go about these plans, the three had impatiently awaited the day they would receive the owl from Mrs. Weasley notifying them that their transportation would soon arrive to bring them to The Burrow for Bill and Fleur's wedding. The wedding was only about two days away, so an owl was expected sometime that day.

"Rather stuffy in here," Ron muttered for the umpteenth time.

Hermione tutted impatiently. She glanced at Harry - his face was, again, blank and void of emotion. She need not ask to know he was thinking about Dumbledore and about the Horcruxes, or that the object his hand was clenching in his pocket was the fake locket. She sighed. So much had happened so soon.

"And when is that blasted owl going to arrive?" Ron piped up again.

Harry snapped out of his reverie. "Looks like it's arrived," he indicated towards the window where a tawny own had just come to rest, raising a clawed foot to tap on the pane.

Ron scrambled over and opened the window, letting the owl in. It dropped a scroll on the floor, which Ron picked up and read aloud.

"Dearest Harry, Hermione and Ron,

Hope you are all doing well. We at The Burrow have been very busy with plans and preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding, and so far everything is coming along nicely. Arthur will come for you tomorrow morning, so I suggest you finish packing tonight. We are all looking forward to seeing you soon - Ginny has been rather quiet lately and I don't doubt your arrival will cheer her up.

All my love,

Molly Weasley."

At the mention of Ginny, Harry shuffled slightly and turned a faint pink.

"Alright then!" Ron said happily. "We'll finally be out of here by tomorrow morning."

"I wonder how we'll travel?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"By floo, perhaps," suggested Ron. "Or maybe we'll apparate!"

"Don't be silly Ron, we haven't all passed the test yet."

"There's Side-Along-Apparation," Harry spoke up. "I did it with Dum-" he stopped short, an almost guilty look on his face. "Dumbledore," he finished quietly.

Ron and Hermione exchanged uncomfortable glances and cast down their eyes.

After a moment's pause, Harry heaved a sigh and stood up. "Well I suppose we should pack then, no point in wasting any time."

The other two nodded their agreement and they began to clear up the cluttered mess of books (mostly Hermione's) and clothes scattered about.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

A short, cracking noise interrupted Hermione's dream and she sleepily sat up in bed to find a figure looming by the window as the early morning sun lit up the room.

"Mr. Weasley?" she croaked, squinting.

"Hello, dear!" he beamed at her as he strode over to Harry's bed, where he lay, mouth wide open in comfortable slumber. A simple tap on the shoulder and Harry was sitting upright, dark hair sticking up in all directions, and blinking foggily.

Ron was harder to wake. After a few nudges and "Ron!"'s, Mr. Weasley gave him a particularly hearty shove and Ron rolled off the bed and scrambled up, grumbling about the "early hours of the morning" and "couldn't you have come later?".

It was as Harry had predicted; one by one Mr. Weasley assisted them to the Burrow by means of Side-Along-Apparition. Hermione was first; the uncomfortable sensation of being squeezed through a narrow tube was over just before it became unbearable.

The Burrow was a frenzy of noise and excitement. Mrs. Weasley was bustling about as various bangs and shouts of laughter sounded from Fred and George's room every now and then; Tonks and Lupin were meanwhile helping with the preparations as Ginny ate breakfast.

"Hermione!" Ginny stood up to hug her when she saw her. "How are you? How is...?"

"We're all fine," Hermione reassured her with a warm smile.

"I'm glad you're here. I've been so bored and a little lonely, to be honest."

A cracking noise sounded as Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but Ginny's eyes werefixed on the person behind her.

Harry stared back at her for a moment before stepping forward. They embraced in a tight hug, and Ginny stepped back, grinning.

"Have you guys had breakfast yet?"

"No," came Ron's voice from behind. "But breakfast sounds good." He hugged his sisterbriefly and sat himself down at the table.

Soon after, Mrs. Weasley bustled over, fussing over the three of them and placing plates of sausages, bacon and eggs on the table.

Hermione smiled to herself. It felt good to be there, where everything was lively, happy and high-spirited. It was just what they needed.


	2. Poor, poor Malfoy

_Disclaimer: HP belongs to JK Rowling. _

The wedding took place at The Burrow, in the Weasley's garden. Mrs. Weasley had magically enlarged it to fit all the guests. As Hermione watched the two lovers stand up and make their vows, she admired the beautiful decorations and reluctantly had to admit that Fleur looked beautiful in her dress.

Hermione sat at the front alongside Harry, Ron, Fred and George, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Charlie was the best man and Ginny was one of two bridesmaids. She looked rather uncomfortable as she stood in her champagne-coloured dress, long flaming red hair a stark contrast to the other blonde bridesmaid, Gabrielle, Fleur's sister. Fleur had suggested charming Ginny's hair "just for ze wedding!" but Ginny had adamantly refused. Percy was the only Weasley missing from the wedding as he had not shown up nor even replied to the invitation declining.

Hermione found her mind drifting at the celebration dinner; wizards and witches continued to stand up, making long boring toast after toast to the newlyweds. She let her mind drift back to the night of Dumbledore's death. She refused to tell either of her best friends that it continued to plague her thoughts. She remembered hearing screams… _the look on Snape's face as she and Luna let him pass…determined, stony, cold, yet troubled…all the curses flying around, narrowly missing them…_ A sinking feeling landed in the pit of her stomach. _Dumbledore…dead._ Then, suddenly, as if she had forgotten all about it and only just been hit with the realization – Malfoy. What had happened to him? She remembered Harry telling her about Malfoy and Dumbledore's conversation up at the tower…_"he kept stalling for time...he lowered his wand...he wouldn't do it..." _it had been after hearing about that encounter that she had _known_ that despite all his nasty words, misguided views and cruel taunts and tricks, he was not truly an evil wizard.

She blinked her watery eyes hastily to prevent any tears from spilling. What was Voldemort forcing him to do right now? Was Malfoy being made to murder? Was he being punished? Surely he didn't deserve what hemust be going through, Hermione thought to herself.

Ron noticed Hermione sniff and gave her an odd, quizzical look, seemingly mistaking her emotion for the opposite and thinking she was touched. "His speech wasn't _that_ good," he mumbled under his breath.

Glad of a reason not to admit why she was teary-eyed, Hermione simply flapped a hand at him, waving him off in the pretence of listening intently. Instead, she focused on keeping her tears at bay. The words _Poor Malfoy_ kept repeating in her head. An overwhelming sense of pity washed over her. _Poor, poor Malfoy._

XOXOXOXOXOX

Draco Malfoy prowled a dark, empty-looking street in Muggle London moodily as he glared at the three figures walking ahead of him. Heavy footsteps behind him belonged to Amycus, a fellow Death Eater.

"Hurry up," Amycus growled at Malfoy.

Draco scowled and gripped his wand tighter under his traveling cloak as he quickened his pace to draw closer to Bellatrix, Alecto and Severus Snape. He said nothing in complaint though. This was not like Hogwarts, where he could retort rudely back and perhaps throw out a hex or two, thus bullying the offender into treating him with more respect and fear. Death Eaters didn't bother restraining themselves; they would perform the _crucio_ on him if they felt it suitable, or simply if they felt like it.AndDraco had fallen victim to their whimsbefore; they took it upon themselves tobully and pick on him, being the youngest. The only unspoken rule they seemed to follow was not to kill a fellow Death Eater; that task was left to Voldemort if he wished it so.

Lately, the Dark Lord had been sending him on almost every dangerous mission, as though somehow hoping he would get killed or perhaps that he might learn a thing or two. Draco scoffed inwardly. It was all utter rubbish, if this was his idea of punishment. He was not complaining, though. He'd rather this than be facing the Dark Lord alone. The missions gave him a false sense of importance. Still, he would have killed Dumbledore had Snape not interrupted and taken over, he told himself. But deep inside he knew it was not so.

"Here," hissed Bellatrix, coming to stop outside a dingy old abandoned-looking Muggle house. The others all halted outside it.

"On my signal, we enter and kill any threats. Make sure nobody escapes. I'll retrieve the locket. No mistakes," Bellatrix glared at Draco, who glared steadily back, restraining from an impatient toss of the head.

He'd been on countless of these missions already but had killed nobody – it was as though his mind was bursting to do it, to scream out those two words that would end one's life, but his lips wouldn't do the bidding and his voice did him no justice either. He'd taken to performing the Cruciatus curse instead, watching, almost wincing, as the screams of horror and pain escaped his victim's lips and they writhed desperately on the ground, clutching their head, eyes either scrunched up or rolling in their sockets. He'd leave them there for another to finish off.

Draco glanced nervously around. This was a stupid mission anyway! Kill everyone in sight whilst Bellatrix ran along to bring the Dark Lord back a stupid locket? Why must they kill anyone at all? Why not steal the bloody locket without any fuss? Things were much easier that way. He slunk along behind Snape, wand out and ready. Bellatrix and the others went round the back of the house. He and Snape waited in silence until the eerie hoot of an owl signaled it was time.

"Alohorama," Snape uttered in a low voice, and a click was heard as the door unlocked. They entered the house. At first, it appeared that nobody was home. Draco could not suppress a tiny wave of relief. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere a jet of light hit him square in the shoulder and his arms and legs snapped together, wand dropping to the floor with a clatter. He fell stiffly to the floor with a dull thud.

Snape ducked and dodged two more spells aimed at him and pointed his wand at the short, pudgy man who was issuing them with a terrified look on his face; "Avada Kedavra!" he said simply; the jet of green light did not miss it's target and the man fell dead to the floor.

Draco's eyes rolled to Snape's face, which was set in a grim expression as he said emotionlessly for him to "get up," undoing the body-binding curse. Draco collected his wand and stood up, feeling slightly foolish and embarrassed. The other Death Eaters did not scare him but Snape, whom he used to admire, trust and respect, now caused him to feel uncomfortable and cold in his presence.

They moved on to the next room where they found Alecto standing over two more motionless bodies. "This way," she jerked her head to the right and Draco followed her and Snape down a narrow hall to a bedroom. Bellatrix and Amycus were in there and whipped around as soon as the others entered.

"It's not here," Bellatrix said bluntly. "Let's go."

Without a word, the five Death Eaters left the house quickly, Snape bringing up the rear and turning around briefly once outside to cast the Dark Mark above it.

"Our Lord will not be pleased," Amycus grunted in a low voice.

The others remained silent.

Draco's eyes fixed upon the glowing Mark in the sky and he glanced down at his own branded Mark, the bitter taste of bile in his mouth as he turned to go.

_A/N: Chapters will be longer from hereon. Also – Draco/Hermione interaction coming up._


End file.
